Improvement in ticket-boxes



UNITED STATES PATnNT Qrricn- EQHAMBUJER, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

IM PROVEM ENT IN TICKET-BOXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,274. dated June 20, 1865.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, E. HAMBUJER, of the city, county, and State of N ew York, have invented a new and Improved Self-Controlling Ticket-Box; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, which `will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a longitudinal vertical section of this invention, the plane ot' section being indicated by the line :v x, Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the saine, the line y y, Fig. l, indicating the plane of section; Fig. 3, a face view of one ot' the tickets which I use in my box.

Similar letters ot' reference indicate like parts.

The object ot' this invention is to protect railroad and other companies from fraud by the conductors, who, under the present arrangement, are enabled to sell any number of tickets to passengers on the route and put the proceeds in their own pockets without the possibility of being detected. This difliculty is obviated by the use ot' the box which forms the subject-matter of this present invention.

The tickets are made in two sections, one to be retained by the passenger and conductor and the other to serve as a check, and to be returned, with the box, to the company. The tickets are inclosed in the box, and they are so placed in relation to suitable knives or cir.- cular cutters that whenever one of them is withdrawn fromthe box that portion which is intended to serve as a check is out oft' and retained in the box, while the other portion is handed to the passenger, and afterward taken back by the conductor. The tickets are also provided with a shoulder, which serves to act` uate the clapper ot' a bell whenever one of the tickets is Withdrawn from the box, and thereby the attention ot' the passenger is called to the fact that the conductor has really taken the ticket from the box, and not from any other place.

A represents a box, made of wood or any other suitable material, and so arranged that it can be securely locked, the key being kept in the hands of the railroad or any other company. The interior of the `box is divided oft' into a series of compartments, B B', (two only being shown in the drawings,) which are intended to hold the different tickets required on a certain route, and these compartments are either stationary, as shown in the drawings,

or they may be arranged in 'a revolving cylin der. In the former case the box must be provided with as many apertures G YC as there are compartments, so that access can be had to each ofthe same for the purpose of Withdrawing a ticket; but in the latter ca se (it' the compartments are arranged in a revolving cylinder) one aperture in the box is suiiicient, andA by turning the cylinder several compartments are brought opposite said aperture, according to the class ot' ticket required.

The tickets T are made in a peculiar form, as shown in Fig. 3. The main portion a forms that part which is intended for the passenger and afterward to be taken back by the conductor, and the other-portion, b, is intended as a check, which is retained in the box and de livered with the same to the company. 4Said tickets are also provided with a shoulder, c, the object ot' which will be presently further explained. The tickets are placed in the compartments B B in such a position that the edge d of the main ticket lies close to the cutters I), which are arranged in t'ront ot each compartment, and the ends ot' the tickets eX- tend out through the aperture C or C', so that they can be grasped with the hand and drawn out. Suitable presser-plates, E, hold the tickets in the compartments B B in the proper position. The shoulders c of the tickets are opposite to the upper end ofthe hammer F ot" a bell, G, which is situated in the lower part ofthe box, as clearly shown in Fig. l. It' one ot' the tickets is drawn out by the conductor, the shoulder c actuates` the hammer, and a sound is produced which calls the attention of the passenger to the fact that the ticket has been withdrawn from the box, and the. check b is cut ott' by the cutters D and drops down into the lower part ot' the box, to which access can only be had when the box is opened.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The use ot' a box provided with suitable cutters, and with or without a bell, in combination with tickets formed substantially in the manner herein described, or in any other equivalent 1n anner, so that by the act of withdraw ing the ticket from the box a portion of said ticket is retained and serves as a check for the ticket, as herein set forth.

' E. HAMBUJER.

Witnesses M. M. LivrNcsroN, J. P. HALL. 

